The Rohmans

 The year is 2009. The stage is a 900 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment. The players include Dad, Mom, daughter (5), daughter (3), son (2) and another daughter (6 mos.). The mood is happy, but most often times loud and crazy! They have pretty much given up house hunting or dreaming because of too many failed attempts. Enter a man from habitat and a conversation that leads to a whirlwind of paperwork, background check, and new hope. And BAM! A few short weeks later the family has been accepted and is breaking ground!

 The building process is also a whirlwind, but very fun. And just before Christmas the the very tired but excited family is showered with gifts and all moved in! The kids ride bikes in the unfurnished basement and play outside in their very own yard. Mom gets a little more peace! The kids’ dream of having a puppy is fulfilled. Dad works on cars in the garage instead of out in the weather. He eventually turns the garage into a shop and gets to fulfill some dreams of his own. Mom gets to host lots of extended family gatherings and paints the kitchen blue.

 We are this family. Nick, Leslie, Jael, Esther, Caleb and Haylee Rohman. We feel incredibly blessed to live in such a beautiful home. We love our yard and the neighborhood. We have learned that homeownership involves a lot of responsibility. No landlord to call when something breaks! We also have learned that owning a house does not instantly make you happier. That really is more about choosing to be happy right where you are.

We really do love our home and hope we get to continue to live here for many years to come! We have lots of plans for what we’d like to with the yard and for how to finish the basement.

The Gurleys

 Hello my name is Debbie Gurley. I have a husband James Gurley, 3 adult children Jeremy 33, Jeanna 28, and Josh 26. Jeremy and Josh still live with us. Before I became a Habitat Homeowner I was a single mom with 3 small children, raising them on my own. We were living in a 2 bedroom apartment in Forest Edge in Woodland Park. All 3 of my children were sleeping in one bedroom on a bunk bed. One twin, one full. I was working at High Country Cleaners making about 7 dollars an hour and getting part time hours with no benefits. We were barely getting by.

 We had food stamps, Medicaid and child support which helped. I was paying 700 a month for rent that was 50% of my wages I made at work.

 One day I decided we needed a bigger place to live. I had always wanted my own house but I knew I would never be able to afford to buy a house with the money I was making. So one day I heard about Habitat for Humanity. I heard there was a meeting in Victor. So I went to the meeting. I found out a house was going to be built in Cripple Creek. I didn’t want to raise my children in Cripple Creek so I waited for another meeting. I found out there was a meeting in Divide. So I went and filled out papers and one day I received a call saying I had been chosen for the next Habitat Home in Sherwood Forest. We were so excited we could hardly believe we had been chosen. My children were finally not going to have to sleep in one bedroom. We received a three bedroom home. I had one bedroom the 2 boys had one and my daughter had one. My children finally had a yard to play in. Getting this has changed our lives so much by getting off of food stamps and Medicaid and being able to do things on our own.

 We have been living in our Habitat home for 15 yrs. We love waking up to the beautiful view of the mountains and Pikes Peak. The peacefulness we get from not living in Woodland Park is great. I got married to a wonderful man in 2006 and we love it here. We don’t ever want to leave this house with its wonderful surroundings and wonderful neighbors.

 Tina Alley

 I was a recently divorced mom with no work experience. I worked at Walmart and wasn’t happy doing it. Because of the stability of having a home I was able to go to college and get an associate degree in dental assisting.. a much better paying job than Walmart.. and into something I enjoy.

 I now owe less on my house than its worth and it’s a good thing ☺

 My house is 8 years old and has retained most of its original value. 157,000 – 149,000

 Habitat has taught me timeliness and responsibility and has given me the opportunity to become a better version of myself.

 To the stars and back

 When I was very little, about six or seven, I remember going to other peoples’ houses and admiring everything they had. I thought a small 1,000 sq ft house was like a mansion and some incredible family must live there. I admired places that other people might have thought were small and bare, because I didn’t have anything like that. I lived in a trailer with an incredibly bad situation, and then I lived in a small cabin with no hear, water, or electricity. Then I lied in a tiny apartment whose kitchen and living room combined was only about as big as my living room now. That was the place we were living in when we first were visited by Habitat.

 My two older brothers and I were living there with our mom who was working two jobs and doing everything she could to make sure her children wouldn’t end up in the streets, and we were very close to that. The place we were living had leaks and mold everywhere. I had giant mushrooms growing in my closet and we heated our food with a tiny cup warmer because that was what worked. I was sick a lot because of the mold and dust, I would get 103 degree fevers for days, even in the house we were living while our Habitat house was being built. It was dangerous for little kids, and all the dust and lack of heat also got me sick. For me, living with poverty was normal and I thought I wouldn’t live in anything else. When I first visited our house now, when just the foundation was being built, I started to realize that we could have something more, a place that was safe, healthy and warm.

 Our house is just under 1,000 sq ft but it seems like a castle to me. I’d never had a place so big. And when we moved in it was clean and I stopped getting sick. It allowed us a better footing to get on with our lives and gave my mom such a relief that her children were finally able to live comfortably. I was ten when we finally moved in and it was great. Habitat gave me a place that I would grow up healthy, I could spread my arms and run freely and someplace where I would be warm. Habitat gave me the first place I ever called home and it was wonderful.

The Atencios

 My name is Katrina, my husband is Max and we are the parents of four wonderfully busy children ! Our oldest is Aralynn, she enjoys

school and has been talking about it all summer. Roman, the current middle kiddo loves ninja turtles, so much that he has a collection of turtle everything. Pillows, blankets, shirts, plates, spoons and folks; you name it hes got it! My youngest is Pryce. His favorite thing in the entire world is motorcycles (just like his daddy) and bicycles! Any time we pass one while driving he makes the noises and screams that they’re passing! My wonderful husband Max and I knew each other for many years before we decided to become more than friends. We would have never imagined coming this far, and growing this much together as a family. Making the big move to Colorado was something we had wanted to do for approximately three years. Once he was hired by the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, things moved very quickly. We left everything but our clothes and our cat; needless to say it’s been a difficult and crazy adventure. I could not imagine settling anywhere else. This is where we will grow old together, where we will watch our children grow to amazing young adults. This is our nest. Colorado is where our heart and home is.

The Schiller Family… patience pays off!

Sarah had no family in the area. The extended family that she knew and loved lived in Illinois so she was alone and cold in the small mining town of Victor, CO. Her husband was abusive so Sarah took her 2 small children and began a new life. She had no place to live. Her son, JohnMichael, was suffering with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and her daughter Rachael suffered with asthma. She had a job in a local casino but had very few options for affordable living for her children.

Sarah was strong and committed to do the very best she could for her children. She found an apartment on the 3rd floor of an almost vacant building. It was cold and drafty but it had working appliances and was secure for the kids. The situation was tolerable for Rachael because it was cool but JonMichael suffered with the 3 flights of stairs and a drafty bedroom. Even in these gloomy hard times Sarah was optimistic and wanted to do something special for her kids. She kept her change in a jar on top of the refrigerator to be used only for treats for the children. She didn’t have much but she wanted to give her kids something to show them how special and important they were to her.

Sarah applied for a Habitat for Humanity home in 2003. She was accepted and the process began. But it wasn’t until 2007,  that Sarah and her family were able to move into the  “Neighborhood Block”, a group of revitalized Victorian homes in Cripple Creek.